we are family

Miss me?
I took last week off from cycling to be on a volunteer work team with the church. Instead of miles on the bike or treadmill my exercise was shoveling dirt, picking apricots, walking all over the McCurdy campus, picking up trash and a few excellent hikes in Northern New Mexico. I did manage to run three out of seven mornings so it wasn’t a total cardio loss.

When I got home late Sunday night I thought I would jump right back into training where I had left off. Wrong. Really wrong. Instead in the days I have been home I have stuggled to do much of anything at all. One brief run. One brief ride. And now it's Friday.

I suppose it was the eight solid days of people and work (let’s be honest, I was with church members) that has left me feeling only like curling up at home when I break free from the office each day. This Friday morning I thought I’d celebrate a day away from church by jumping out of bed at 6:45 and hoping on the bike for a long ride. Instead it's 11:15 and all I’ve accomplished is eating a bagel. Oh the bagel was good, but still.

Okay enough whining. This is for fun anyway right? My body will rest and I will feel like riding and running and all that again. I know a slacker week is just that, a week. Next week will be different.

Besides the best moment of the week re: the big ride didn’t come from training at all. Tuesday I received in the mail a donation from Mary Lou and Larry Grove (thank you!) and a handwritten note reminding me of the more significant part of this enterprise.

(side note: Thanks to all those who have donated. I am now half-way done with the fundraising! Whoo hoo! I appreciate your support immmensly.)

Mary Lou, I hope you don’t mind me quoting you here… She said,

“We remember the struggle your Aunt Pat endured, as well as your folks and grandparents. It was a very difficult time for all of them. Larry and I were in KC keeping your mom company while your dad underwent the harvesting of his bone marrow. We were very aware of Pat’s battle as she tried to beat that terrible disease.
“As we all know, those early procedures provided the foundation for the successful treatments so many people, especially children, are now experiencing. Through the years we have seen several instances and situations which point out the importance of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, a wonderful organization!”

My Aunt Pat didn’t live very many weeks beyond the transplant of her brother's bone marrow. Honestly as a 5 year old I was much more aware of my own father’s suffering through that period than I was my Aunt’s. (that was no small thing, it hurt like hell to donate bone marrow.) But I wasn’t in KC. Her hospital room in those last weeks was no place for a small child. So I say thanks to Mary Lou and Larry and all the other people who sat with my parents, prayed with them, and loved them as they watched her die.


As a pastor I know that most families have holes. Patricia Jane’s absence, my dad's older and only sibling, continues to be one of ours. (picture circa 1947, were they not the cutest pair?) Thankfully the Groves remind me that family is also a whole lot bigger than blood and marriage provide.

Maybe I'll ride my bike today after all.